Equine equipment

Unusual piece of kit. I've never seen one in all my time collecting. It may be a cliche but this one really did come out of a normandybarn. It was given to me by a friend who had worked for 12 years in France for the war graves commission. I'm still not a 100% sure of how it was used but apparently it was attached to part of a horses rig between its body and whatever it was carrying. I've found some illustrations showing it in place with a carbine over it, as well as small calibre shells on pack animals.